Investment Thesis with Kali Norman

Veteran angel investor and M8 Ventures co-founder Alan Jones joins host Kali Norman to unpack his 20-year investing journey—from writing A$30K–A$50K early cheques to building a syndicate model that opens up early-stage tech investing with A$5K minimums. Alan shares how his framework evolved from sourcing deals through top accelerators like Startmate to backing deeply mission-aligned founders acros...

Skalata Ventures co-founder and CEO Rohan Workman joins host Kali Norman to unpack a thesis built on backing overlooked founders — capital-lean companies with a defensible edge, founders who can read a balance sheet and ship an MVP, and cheques up to A$500K at valuations to ~A$10M. Rohan explains why Skalata paused new investments to rebuild its frameworks for the AI era, and why — at pre-seed — y...

Rampersand partner Taryn Pieterse joins host Kali Norman to unpack how she backs early-stage founders — from A$250K–A$2M first cheques to the founder traits she screens for (grit, execution, balanced optimism). Taryn explains why second-time founders and shipped MVPs de-risk a deal, and how AI is shifting her thesis from domain expertise toward defensibility. Taryn traces her path from Goldman Sac...

Podcast host Kali invites listeners to join her as she builds her own investment thesis from the ground up—learning directly from experienced investors who have already defined (and redefined) theirs. In this session, we sit down with investor Dan Coughlan. Dan Coughlan is a Principal at Airtree, one of Australia's leading venture capital firms. With a background in commerce, he began his career a...

Podcast host Kali invites listeners to join her as she builds her own investment thesis from the ground up - learning directly from experienced investors and founders who have already defined (and redefined) theirs. In this session, we sit down with investor and founder Maxine Minter. Maxine is the Founder and General Partner at Co Ventures, and started her investment journey as an angel investor,...

Podcast host Kali invites listeners to join her as she builds her own investment thesis from the ground up—learning directly from experienced investors and founders who have already defined (and redefined) theirs. In this session, we sit down with investor and founder Jodie Imam. Jodie Imam is the Co-Founder and CEO of Tractor Venture, providing flexible, revenue-based financing to help companies...

Podcast host Kali invites listeners to join her as she builds her own investment thesis from the ground up—learning directly from experienced investors who have already defined (and redefined) theirs. In this session, we sit down with investor Elaine Stead. Elaine Stead is a Principal at Main Sequence, with a focus on the “Humanity Scale Healthcare” challenge. With a background spanning science, e...

Podcast host Kali invites listeners to join her as she builds her own investment thesis from the ground up—learning directly from experienced investors who have already defined (and redefined) theirs. In this session, we sit down with investor Matt Macfarlane. Matt is a non-executive director at AgriFutures, iCetana, Pet Rescue, and AEGIC. Prior to moving to non-executive roles Matt co-founded a $...

Podcast host Kali Norman invites listeners to join her as she builds her own investment thesis from the ground up—learning directly from experienced investors who have already defined (and redefined) theirs. Welcome to the show.